Arsenal are have signed Martin Odergaard and are close to confirming Aaron Ramsdale.

Both have been fairly long term targets for the club this summer and plenty has been written about the pair, so let’s not go over old ground.

With less than 2 weeks left in the transfer window the question to ask is “after Odegaard and Ramsdale, who next?”.

And the answer to the is “it depends on who leaves.”

I have seen a few on social media say “now let’s go for a striker”.

The issue with the statement is we have 5 strikers at the club already.

Unless we sell 3 of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun, there will be no new striker.

And it is unlikely we will sell 3 of the above named players considering it will mean two of the 3 are Aubameyang and Lacazette.

What is more likely is one of the 2 leave alongside Nketiah. That will leave us with a senior striker being backed up by Martinelli and Balogun.

If Lacazette of Aubameyang does leave, it is more likely that we will bring in a left sided player.

At the moment we have been playing Aubameyang on the left win to accommodate the pair; it is a tactic that clearly doesn’t work.

If Aubameyang leaves, we then need to reinforce the left hand side. If it is Lacazette then Aubameyang is used centrally and we still need a left sided player.

The options would be either go for someone like Houssem Auoar who will come in off the touchline and add further creativity. He would then create space for Kieran Tierney to bomb into. Or go for Marcus Thuram who will now hug the touchline.

If we want someone to hug the touchline, we have that in both Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka.

Auoar would give us another options and a midfield 3 of him, Odergaard and Saka would have plenty of creativity, mobility and flexibility.

The flip side is someone like Thuram also adds 10 goals a season.

The only other place we will likely strengthen is right back. But only if Hector Bellerin leaves.

With Bellerin still an Arsenal player, we just do not have the space for a new signing. We are not managed by Gareth Southgate with us 4 right backs.

If Bellerin does leave the man to watch is Emerson Royal at Barcelona.

Despite their financial troubles, Barcelona spent €9m bringing Emerson back from Betis. This just have been done in the hope they could quickly sell him on for profit.

A quick sale has not happened and with their financial insecurity, they might look to cash in for not much more than what they paid for him.

Emerson is just 22 and combative right back.

For Betis he would often drop inside to create a 3 at the back as the left back went forward. This is certainly a tactic Arteta has looked to use in the past to try and free up Tierney.

Circling back, however, a new right back will only come in if Bellerin leaves.

So less than 2 weeks to go and plenty still to hopefully happen.

Keenos

Against Tottenham in a pre-season friendly, some sections of the Spurs crowd clapped Bukayo Saka onto the pitch.

“Showing their class” was the response on social media.

Nah, not for me. But I will give them the benefit of the doubt as it was a friendly.

Then against Brentford, the Hounslow based club did the same.

Again, I will give them the benefit of the doubt as they are a small club. Basically the Leyton Orient of West London and the majority of fans in the stadium probably did not support Brentford.

During the Manchester United v Leeds United game, it was loud and clear.

“You let your country down” aimed at Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho. And it was glorious.

What differentiates going down the football in comparison to cricket, rugby or any other sport is the rivalry. The edge.

It is like war. You hate your opponent. Boo everything they do whilst cheer your own team.

Their player goes in high on one of yours, you scream for blood. Our player goes in high on one of theirs, he is cheered. A hero.

Without that edge football is no longer enjoyable. You might as well be at the theatre, applauding politely regardless of if the performance is mediocre.

Now there is a fine line when abuse can go too far; but that does not mean there is not space in the game for you to abuse an opponent.

I grew up when David Beckham got dogs abuse for flicking out at Diego Simeone, getting himself sent off and costing us a World Cup.

The abuse he got went too far – with one South London one pub lynching an effigy of him outside.

But we grew from that and a few years later when Wayne Rooney get sent off against Portugal the abuse was not as vicious. Just the booing and “you let your country down”.

Now as I say, there is a line. And Racist and homophobic abuse is clearly the wrong side of the line. As is wishing death on someone, their family or kids. This is appalling behaviour.

But there is certainly space in the game for “you let your country down” and for fans to boo players who missed a penalty or causes us to be knocked out of the World Cup (or in this case the Euros).

Now it might seem odd I am saying this as Saka was one of those who missed a penalty, and would therefore get abuse from opponents.

I just find the clapping of him ludicrous. It is all a bit soft. We do not go to football to hold hands with everyone.

Abuse from opposing fans helps build a player. Makes them mentally stronger. Builds character.

The abuse you get in England is nothing in comparison to what a player receives in Italy or across Eastern Europe. You can not have sports stars wrapped up in cotton wool. They need to be both physically and mentally strong to succeed.

So on Sunday I will raise a smile if Chelsea let Saka know he let the country down. Give him a god boo. But then I will be straight back at them. Backing my player, booing the Chelsea fans booing him. That is football.

Lets stop with all this clapping bollocks.

Keenos

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It is no real surprise to me that the Chelsea fixture is struggling to sell out.

When categories were bought in by Arsenal over a decade ago, Cat A games use to sell out in no time.

Arsenal we are force to be reckoned with in the league, playing attacking football and there was an air of positivity around the place. But a lot has changed since then and the club have not moved with the times.

Probably the biggest reason these “big games” now struggle to sell out is due to the Ticket Exchange (TX).

The TX was a brilliant innovation by the club; giving season ticket holders the opportunity to sell tickets to games they were unable to attend.

Up until that point, if you were on holiday, at work or ill, you would have to know and trust someone to pass your season ticket on to. With the introduction of the TX you could just stick your ticket online and someone else would buy it.

I have used it a lot over the years, mainly for mid-week European games when work meant I could not go.

The issue with the TX is that it would only “go live” once a game was officially a sell out.

So if I were unable to go to a game, I could only sell my season ticket on the TX once every seat was sold.

In recent years, this has resulted in obtaining Arsenal tickets turning into a game of poker.

With tickets usually selling “cheapest first”, eventually all the club is left with is the most expensive tickets. For Chelsea the majority of the tickets remaining cost £90+.

So someone looking to get a ticket has a choice.

Pay the £90 (up to £95.50 in some areas) to site upper tier in the Gods. OR wait for the game to sell out and potentially end up with a lower tier ticket for £64.

Of course, the risk is you wait and the game does not sell out, and the cheaper tickets that were available are no longer. But the reward is you get a ticket at 30% off of the currently available price once it goes to TX.

The problem is the club have not moved their pricing with the times.

TX was great for students and youths who lived in the local area. Able to pick up a ticket at late notice.

£95.50 is just too much for the majority of fans who go on an ad-hoc. At that price they would likely decide to stay at home. Watch on the TV. And I fully agree why.

So Arsenal are pricing out a lot of fans who are unable to pay the highest prices and are sitting around waiting for the game to sell our before snapping up a brief off the TX.

You through this in with the negativity around the club both on and off the pitch and Arsenal is just not attractable, enjoyable.

Why spend £95.50 for something that is not enjoyable at the moment?

Yes, you can argue that you should be backing the club through thick and thin, but the club the size of Arsenal has lots of different fans.

You have the fans who will go week in week out no matter what is happening – and these fans usually end up with season tickets.

The ad-hoc fans, students, etc are more casual followers. Going down The Arsenal might be a one or two time a season thing. Why go if you are not going to enjoy yourself?

Arsenal would argue that ticket prices have barely risen in the 15 years we have been at the Emirates so us fans have benefited from a “real term price cut” during that time; hence why they are not reducing ticket prices.

But if the season roles on as is, with so much unhappiness and we end up outside the top 6 again the club might have no choice but to drop ticket prices to attract more fans.

The flip side is how much would they need to drop prices to attract fans?

Back of the fag pack maths, the club will earn around £4.125m with 55,000 fans turning up (paying an average of £75) for Chelsea.

Were they to knock £10 off the cost of a ticket and sell out 60,000, the club would only generate £3.9m. And would £10 off a £95.50 ticket really be enough to bring the fans back in?

And whilst it is uncomfortable to discuss that the club is maximising profit even if it means less fans through the door, that is where football is right now – and it is not just Arsenal.

Maybe the scenario is just scrap Cat A (and Cat C) games and return to just one category?

Yes, this will mean more expensive “cheap tickets” when we player smaller clubs like Aston Villa or Leeds United; but at the end of the day we only go to see The Arsenal.Keenos